Posted by Paul Inglis on September 24, 2008 at 7:48 AM
Hi everyone,
Sorry for not be around for some time but I’ve been very busy with re-designing my website, setting up a new blog along with many photography and filming forays. I haven’t long gotten back from a near three week trip in the Mediterranean. However I don’t have any more planned trips this year so hopefully I’ll catch up on the backlog of images I have to edit and also start being an active member of NPN once again.
Anyhow the main reason for this post is ‘lens lust’ once again!!! I seem to be suffering this ill once again. You see during my travels I was spending more and more time shooting between 50mm to 100mm and the only lenses I have in that focal range are the 28-70mm and 70-200mm and both are a wee bit heavy to carry around your neck all day plus my hand was needed to cup the 70-200mm lens constantly.
Therefore I set about looking for a light weight lens that can be hung around my neck all day along with superior image quality and a good boken. I am really starting to prefer primes again and believe I have finally found that lens.
Zeiss 85mm f1.4 Planar
Has anyone tried this lens? Or have any experience of these lenses?
The only thing that lets this lens down for me is it has a 72mm filter size as my entire collection has been based on 52mm (Telephotos), 62mm (Macro) and 77mm (everything else). So I’ll have to buy some new filters or get a step down which I’m not really a fan of to be honest.
If anyone can help me warrant to price tag of what appears to be a high quality, bright and fast lens; will be very much appreciated.
Not sure if this is any help but I use the Canon 85mm f/1.8 for portraits and the quality is absolutely superb. It is a much cheaper option - I may be wrong - but at this focal length I wouldn't imagine there is that much between them. Tristan
Posted by Paul Inglis on September 24, 2008 at 8:22 AM
Hi Tristan,
Thanks for the reply! I shoot with Nikon and did look at their 85mm F1.4 D AF Lens which has a 77mm filter and auto focus but for some reason I really fancy the Ziess model. I suppose I just need to confirm that the IQ and boken is what I think it is.
Other than that please note that the 85mm is a short hunk of glass weighing 600g and has a minimum focus distance of a whopping 1m so you wou't be able to get those smaller subjects full frame. ( It really is a portrait lens)
Sticking to 85mm I would suggest you look at the Nikon AF F1.8 D... @ 360g
For what it is worth I sold my 85mm F1.2 ( I had it for enviro and badgers at night) because, at the range and in the conditions you use this lenses, most animals (other than badgers) are either moving about - hence zoom prefreable, or simply small hence the need for close focus. I bought a 70-200mm F4 IS.
T
Posted by David Clapp on September 24, 2008 at 9:07 AM
I know of a few people who have this lens and its killer, exactly what you want from a portrait lens. I do question why you need a manual focus manual aperture lens as a walk around. I would be far more inclined to get another killer lens, the 70-200 f4 IS, light and biting sharp. I am guessing you have the 2,8L its almost double the weight so I can understand why.
My thinking is that if you are going to use a Zeiss 85mm f1.4 as a walk around lens you will get fed up with the number of images that could be ruined by critical focus. All these lenses are great to use when the time is taken to set up the shot, focus, stop down and click, but add any excitement and sponteneity and you can find yourself cursing.
Shooting with a super thin plane of focus is difficult enough as it is, I would be inclined to look at Tristans idea as at least it has AF and AE, a lower cost option which could suit your style.
Posted by Paul Everett on September 24, 2008 at 9:56 AM
I can't tell you much about it but it was discussed here if its any help
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic2/293206/
Posted by Bertl Menegoni on September 24, 2008 at 1:20 PM
Hi Paul,
great new website, congrats, much better then the first one.
The letters on the green background have some halo, maybe on my monitor.
Bertl
Posted by Mike Smith on September 24, 2008 at 6:40 PM
Like David C I have been using alternative glass for many years now and still retain a small collection for use with a Canon 1DSII for when I am in a semi serious landscape working mood.
The alternative lens route was originally sought by users with Canon full frame sensor cameras as Canon wide angle lenses below 50mm are not renowned for their edge sharpness (being extremely polite here). For some strange reason it now has become a cult thing to shoot with 'alternative glass' at any focal length and with any camera system.
For anyone using a crop sensor camera (be it 1.3, 1.5 or 1.6) it's, quite frankly, a waste of time and effort using alternative glass, as, apart from the rediuced sensor size cropping away the poor performance edge sharpness issues within teh outer limits of lens image circle, the operating restrictions are just too onerous: difficult accurate focussing without a replacement traditional split fresnel focussing screen (which black out at F8 and beyond); adapter lens register issues (ie problematical infinity focus); and slow stop down metering operation.
Zeiss c/y mount, Oly OM and Leica R lenses have become the recognised alternatives to Canon wide angle lenses shorter than 50mm, above that focal length the Canon lenses are perfectly OK, the same will be true of Nikon AF lenses. The Minolta Rokkor 55mm F1.2 has now become flavour of the month for wide aperture low light shooting. For those with a limitless pocket Canon wide angle work the Nikon 14-24mm is now the de-rigour lens of choice after the Zeiss 21mm F2.8, but we are talking big bucks for these lenses
If you really want to lose AF and electronic metering capability then the Zeiss C/Y mount 35-70mm F3.5 is the 'walkabout' lens to go for it also has a fairly usefull semi macro feature (1:2 I think off the top of my head, I just use it and don't measure magnification ratios), it is lighter than the AF lenses of equal focul range or David C has the slightly larger and heavier brother lens for sale at present with the slightly wider operating focal length range. Beyond 50mm you are better off sticking with Nikon lenses as the technical improvements this last 20 years or so render alternative lenses as poor alternatives
Its a fact of life that the professional camera gear is big and heavy and a pain to use all day long, There are few free lunches at the short to mid telephoto lens range. This is the principal reason why I now shoot Oly E rather than Canon EOS for the bulk of my photography now - I just did not enjoy lugging Canon L gear about anymore. Olympus always have and continue to make superlative quality lenses, I just put up with the body performance issues as a fact of life now and try and keep my iso speeds below 400
Posted by Paul Gibbs on September 25, 2008 at 4:29 AM
Looks an interesting lens, Paul, but being manual focus and the limited closeup ability would really limit its abilities to me. I would not be surprised if nikon didnt release a new 85mm AF-S in the near future to go with the new 50mm f1.4 AF-S.
Posted by Mike Smith on September 25, 2008 at 7:01 AM
the Zeiss 85 mm1.4 is not as optically good as the Canon equivelent, the edge performance wide open is considerably softer, negating the point of the lens really, the better Zeiss lens is the 1.2 anniversary version produced in limited numbers and so commanding stupendously high figures now.
For anyone thinking about alternative glass the 16-9 website is about as good as it gets for realistic back to back lens comparisons, although some of the older tests now contain corrupt links and missing pages
Mike
Posted by Paul Inglis on September 27, 2008 at 6:08 AM
Hi Guys,
Thanks for all the great feedback and links about this 85mm lens. Superb stuff! I know the 85mm is classed more as a portrait lens rather a wildlife lens, but I do have a very specific project in mind for it.
A lot of comparisons have been made between the Zeiss and the Canon but very little with the Nikon. I have however decided to opt for the Nikon f/1.4 as it’ll probably be easier to sell after the job is completed plus the IQ and boken look more than adequate after looking at some high res TIFF’s a friend sent me.
Thanks Bertl – a lot of people seem to prefer the newer design (it was long over due for an update!).
Discussion
10 repliesSorry for not be around for some time but I’ve been very busy with re-designing my website, setting up a new blog along with many photography and filming forays. I haven’t long gotten back from a near three week trip in the Mediterranean. However I don’t have any more planned trips this year so hopefully I’ll catch up on the backlog of images I have to edit and also start being an active member of NPN once again.
Anyhow the main reason for this post is ‘lens lust’ once again!!! I seem to be suffering this ill once again. You see during my travels I was spending more and more time shooting between 50mm to 100mm and the only lenses I have in that focal range are the 28-70mm and 70-200mm and both are a wee bit heavy to carry around your neck all day plus my hand was needed to cup the 70-200mm lens constantly.
Therefore I set about looking for a light weight lens that can be hung around my neck all day along with superior image quality and a good boken. I am really starting to prefer primes again and believe I have finally found that lens.
Zeiss 85mm f1.4 Planar
Has anyone tried this lens? Or have any experience of these lenses?
The only thing that lets this lens down for me is it has a 72mm filter size as my entire collection has been based on 52mm (Telephotos), 62mm (Macro) and 77mm (everything else). So I’ll have to buy some new filters or get a step down which I’m not really a fan of to be honest.
If anyone can help me warrant to price tag of what appears to be a high quality, bright and fast lens; will be very much appreciated.
See you all on the forum!
Thanks for the reply! I shoot with Nikon and did look at their 85mm F1.4 D AF Lens which has a 77mm filter and auto focus but for some reason I really fancy the Ziess model. I suppose I just need to confirm that the IQ and boken is what I think it is.
See Zeiss test and draw a conclusion.
Other than that please note that the 85mm is a short hunk of glass weighing 600g and has a minimum focus distance of a whopping 1m so you wou't be able to get those smaller subjects full frame. ( It really is a portrait lens)
Sticking to 85mm I would suggest you look at the Nikon AF F1.8 D... @ 360g
For what it is worth I sold my 85mm F1.2 ( I had it for enviro and badgers at night) because, at the range and in the conditions you use this lenses, most animals (other than badgers) are either moving about - hence zoom prefreable, or simply small hence the need for close focus. I bought a 70-200mm F4 IS.
T
My thinking is that if you are going to use a Zeiss 85mm f1.4 as a walk around lens you will get fed up with the number of images that could be ruined by critical focus. All these lenses are great to use when the time is taken to set up the shot, focus, stop down and click, but add any excitement and sponteneity and you can find yourself cursing.
Shooting with a super thin plane of focus is difficult enough as it is, I would be inclined to look at Tristans idea as at least it has AF and AE, a lower cost option which could suit your style.
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic2/293206/
great new website, congrats, much better then the first one.
The letters on the green background have some halo, maybe on my monitor.
Bertl
The alternative lens route was originally sought by users with Canon full frame sensor cameras as Canon wide angle lenses below 50mm are not renowned for their edge sharpness (being extremely polite here). For some strange reason it now has become a cult thing to shoot with 'alternative glass' at any focal length and with any camera system.
For anyone using a crop sensor camera (be it 1.3, 1.5 or 1.6) it's, quite frankly, a waste of time and effort using alternative glass, as, apart from the rediuced sensor size cropping away the poor performance edge sharpness issues within teh outer limits of lens image circle, the operating restrictions are just too onerous: difficult accurate focussing without a replacement traditional split fresnel focussing screen (which black out at F8 and beyond); adapter lens register issues (ie problematical infinity focus); and slow stop down metering operation.
Zeiss c/y mount, Oly OM and Leica R lenses have become the recognised alternatives to Canon wide angle lenses shorter than 50mm, above that focal length the Canon lenses are perfectly OK, the same will be true of Nikon AF lenses. The Minolta Rokkor 55mm F1.2 has now become flavour of the month for wide aperture low light shooting. For those with a limitless pocket Canon wide angle work the Nikon 14-24mm is now the de-rigour lens of choice after the Zeiss 21mm F2.8, but we are talking big bucks for these lenses
If you really want to lose AF and electronic metering capability then the Zeiss C/Y mount 35-70mm F3.5 is the 'walkabout' lens to go for it also has a fairly usefull semi macro feature (1:2 I think off the top of my head, I just use it and don't measure magnification ratios), it is lighter than the AF lenses of equal focul range or David C has the slightly larger and heavier brother lens for sale at present with the slightly wider operating focal length range. Beyond 50mm you are better off sticking with Nikon lenses as the technical improvements this last 20 years or so render alternative lenses as poor alternatives
Its a fact of life that the professional camera gear is big and heavy and a pain to use all day long, There are few free lunches at the short to mid telephoto lens range. This is the principal reason why I now shoot Oly E rather than Canon EOS for the bulk of my photography now - I just did not enjoy lugging Canon L gear about anymore. Olympus always have and continue to make superlative quality lenses, I just put up with the body performance issues as a fact of life now and try and keep my iso speeds below 400
For anyone thinking about alternative glass the 16-9 website is about as good as it gets for realistic back to back lens comparisons, although some of the older tests now contain corrupt links and missing pages
Mike
Thanks for all the great feedback and links about this 85mm lens. Superb stuff! I know the 85mm is classed more as a portrait lens rather a wildlife lens, but I do have a very specific project in mind for it.
A lot of comparisons have been made between the Zeiss and the Canon but very little with the Nikon. I have however decided to opt for the Nikon f/1.4 as it’ll probably be easier to sell after the job is completed plus the IQ and boken look more than adequate after looking at some high res TIFF’s a friend sent me.
Thanks Bertl – a lot of people seem to prefer the newer design (it was long over due for an update!).